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A Knuckle Sandwich To Go

A Knuckle Sandwich to go

The Moscow Times, June 17, 1998

In most restaurants, you risk getting beat up if you don’t pay, but the cliché ‘only in New York” wasn’t invented for nothing.

Chef Isaac Correa said that on a recent trip to his native metropolis, he was introduced to the trendy new La Belle Justine, a restaurant where patrons can pay extra for rough treatment. Could the be the first S&M theme restaurant?

“I guess some people go there because they want to experience it,” he said, “It doesn’t hurt your appetite because they’re not doing anything raunchy.”

Correa, 33, was cooking up a storm Friday as the American Bar & Grill at Taganka opened its barbeque season and covered patio.

Correa said in the two years he’s been in Moscow, New York’s East Village has changed dramatically, with new restaurants opening continually. He credits friends, in particular artist Erni Vales, with keeping abreast of the latest-normally nonviolent-changes.

Correa said he returned the favor recently, flying Vales over to spend a week in Russia. And Vales left his mark: two huge murals, of a cowboy and Indian, on the new patio shelter.

Photo: Correa showing off one of the two murals created by Erni Vales.